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General Mills Inc. - Understanding Financial Stamens Essay

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a. What is the nature of General Mills' business? That is, based on what you know about the company and on the accompanying financial statements, how does General Mills make money? General Mills, Inc. has three segments. U.S. Retail sells ready-to-eat cereals, meals, yogurt, organic foods, etc. The International segment includes retail business in Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific region. Bakeries and Foodservice sells to retail and wholesale bakeries, and convenience stores. The company makes money through producing various food and products and distributing them all over the world.

b. What financial statements are commonly prepared for external reporting purposes? What titles does General Mills give these …show more content…

Users are likely interested in information that will assess the company's liquidity, solvency, risk and return, etc. Therefore, they can know more about how is the company financed and the availability of cash to pay debt from the balance sheet. They can know exactly about allocation of the use of cash for different activities from the statement of cash flows. Income statement will provide the information about the revenues and expenses of the company. They can also access information associated with dividend paid and retained earnings.

e. Who are General Mills external auditors? Describe the two "opinion" letters that General Mills received in 2006. In your own words, what do these opinions mean? Why are both opinions dated several months after General Mills' year end? KPMG LLP is General Mills' external auditor. The first opinion letter indicates that General Mills and subsidiaries have maintained effective internal control. The other opinion letter talks about that KPMG has examined the company's consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule. The public accounting firm confirms that General Mills' financial statements are well-presented in all material respects and consisted with U.S. GAAP' criteria. These opinions mean that the company has followed GAAP rules and correctly reported the amount of each item associated its financial performance. The company's consolidated financial statements came to public on the

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